Wrapping and sealing machine for tampons



eP 1953 J. A. CARRIER 2,652,670

WRAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE FOR TAMPONS Filed Nov. 20, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 END SEAL/N6 UN/T-s IN VENTOR ATTORNEY Sept. 22, 1953 J. A. CARRIER 'WRAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE F OR TAMPONS Filed Nov. 20, 1950 5 Sheets-Sneet 2 INVENTOR J. A. CA anus? ATTORNEY Sept. 22, 1953 J. A. CARRIER 2,652,670

WRAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE FOR TAMPONS Filed Nov. 20, 1950 v 5 sneets sneet 5 INVENTOR ww *N mm E Q E w ww ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 22 1953 WRAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE FOR TAMPONS John A. Carrier, Lexington, Mass., assignor to Sanitary Products Corporation,

Taneytown,

Md., a corporation of Illinois Application November 20, 1950, Serial No. 196,617

3 Claims.

poses restrictions on output.

The present invention overcomes the limitations of assembly line manual labor by providing full automatic machine operation in the wrapping and sealing of tampons or other articles in individual packages.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel method and means for wrapping tampons or other cylindrical articles in individual covers and sealing the same.

Another object is to provide novel wrapping and sealing mechanism for tampons and the like, in which means operates automatically to move the tampons serially and at predetermined intervals into pocket-forming relationship with a traveling web of wrapper material that is subsequently cut, folded, and sealed to envelop the tampons individually.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the discharge end portion of an apparatus by which the invention is practiced;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the remaining portion of the apparatus, with parts in section;

Figure 3 is a perspective View of a tampon fully wrapped and sealed as delivered from the apparatus;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a single wrapper blank as formed by cutter mechanism of the apparatus;

Figure 5 is a lower end perspective View of the cutter knife;

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the ejector employed to deliver wrapped and sealed tampons from the apparatus;

Figures 7, 8, and 9 are detail views illustrating the operating cycle of a transfer of a tampon from a supply magazine to a receiving pocket in a web of wrapper material disposed on the conveyor of the apparatus;

Figures 10, 11, and 12 are detail views illustrating the operating cycle of the cutter for severing the web to form individual wrappers;

2 the operation of the means employed to tuck and fold the severed edges of each wrapper blank and for side sealing the wrapper;

Figures 15. and 16 are detail views illustrating the operation of the means employed to seal the ends'of the wrapper; and

Figures 17 and 18 are detail views illustrating the operation of the ejector mechanism for delivering wrapped and sealed tampons.

Figure 19 is an enlarged detail view of a preferred construction of the tuck in mechanism and tampon holder block.

With particular reference to Figures 1 and 2, "it will be seen that the apparatus comprises a .driven conveyor 20, here shown as an endless chain conveyor trained in substantially horizontal upper and lower flights over a pair of end sprockets 2 I, either or both being driven from a suitable motor source, not shown. Individual links of the conveyor chain incorporate transversely disposed tampon receivers 22. In the presently disclosed embodiment of the invention each receiver consists of a block rectangular in cross section and having a longitudinal groove Figures 13 and 14 are detail views illustrating I from end to end opening from its top face, with reference to the upper night of the conveyor, to provide a pocket 23 appropriately shaped to receive and house snugly a cylindrical tampon 24 when delivered thereto. The length of each receiver block 22 is less than the length of a tampon, so that the ends of a tampon seated in the pocket extend appreciably beyond the ends of the block as seen in Figure 6.

The conveyor is driven in a step by step movement whereby its upper flight travels from right to left, with reference to Figure 2, beneath and past a tampon supply station S adjacent the right hand end of the conveyor. The supply station includes a magazine 25, here shown as a transfer turret mounted for step by step rotation in synchronism with the conveyor, which dispenses tampons serially to the conveyor. The turret is provided with radial pockets 26 similar to the conveyor pockets 23 and adapted to hold in frictional engagement a series of tampons to be packaged. The formed tampons are fed to the transfer turret by means not a part of this invention. Each pocket 26 of the turret has a bottom opening slot through which an ejector finger 21 reciprocates freely to push the contained tampon down into a vertically registered pocket of the conveyor when it arrives at the transfer point. The finger 2! is reciprocated in synchronism with the step by step movement of the turret and the conveyor by any suitable means, not shown.

and is trained beneath a movable horizontal hold down plate 2% that is reciprocable longitudinally above the conveyor in synchronism with its travel. The web W is comprised of known nexible thermoplastic material capable of self-bonding under the application of heat and pressure, such as cellophane or the like, preferably colored to mask the tampons which it envelops. As indicated in Figure 6, the width of the wrapper web is appreciably greater than the overall length of a tampon seated in the pocket of its receiver on the conveyor, so that the web projects laterally from both sides of the conveyor chain and beyond the ends of tampons carried thereby. When the apparatus is at rest, the normal position of the movable hold down plate 28 is as shown in Figure 2 in which it closely overlies the wrapper web and conveyor for slightly more than the full extent of whichever receiver block 22 happens to be next in line for movement to the tampon transfer point. A similar, but stationary, hold down plate 29 is disposed on the other side of the transfer point and extends longitudinally of the conveyor over the wrapper web and over those receiver blocks of the conveyor chain between the block located immediately at the transfer point and the means for severing the web W into individual wrappers.

The severing means essentially comprises a 'knife so that is reciprocable vertically in the spaces between adjacent blocks 22 in synchronism with the step by step travel of the conveyor, whereby at each operating cycle of the knife the web of wrapper material is severed cleanly across its full width. The blade of the knife extends transversely across and slightly beyond the full width of the wrapper web and has a central reentrant pointed portion 31 which functions in cutting to form a central tab 32 on the leading edge 35 of each wrapper blank W as shown in Figure 4, and a complemental recess 34 in the trailing edge 35.

On the conveyor beyond the severing knife a transversely disposed pusher bar 36 reciprocates vertically in synchronism with the conveyor travel to engage and push down firmly into the the receiver block pockets the partially wrapped tampons leaving the wrapper cutting knife. At a subsequent station beyond the pusher bar 35, means is provided for completing the wrapping and side sealing of the tampons. This means comprises a third hold down plate 3'! which extends transversely above the conveyor over a plurality of the receiver blocks 22, and which is provided at one edge with an upwardly curved lip that is adapted to engage the upstanding leading edge 33 of each wrapper blank and fold it down and over its associated tampon during travel of the conveyor. However just before the fold down of the leading edge is accomplished, tuck in mechanism operates to fold down the trailing edge 35 of the wrapper blank and tuck it in beneath the leading edge. This tuck in mechanism is here shown as a straight edge blade 39 fixed to the lower end of an arm Ml that is oscillated in a vertical plane in synchronism with the step by step movement of the conveyor.

After the wrapping operation, the tampon packages issuing from beneath the hold down plate 3? are side sealed by the application of heat and pressure in a straight line along the overlapped edge portions of the wrapper blanks. This is accomplished by the downward pressure of a heated bar 4| which reciprocates vertically in synchronism with the travel of the conveyor to its engage and press down upon the folded edge portions of each wrapper blank immediately after it moves out from beneath the, hold down plate 3?. The thermoplastic material of the wrapper softens under the heat of the bar and the overlapped edge portions bond. together along a straight line slightly inwardly 0f the tab 32, which remains relatively free to provide a hand hold for tearing open the package when the tampon is to be used.

The wrapped and side sealed tampon packages P then pass on the top flight of the conveyor to an end sealing station, see Figure 1, at which a pair of oppositely reciprocated heated blocks 32 at each side of the conveyor meet in synchronism with movement of the conveyor to press between them the end portions of the wrappers which extend beyond the ends of the tampons; thus forming self bonded flattened seals 43 at the package ends.

Due to the various applications of pressure to which they are subjected, the tampon packages are nested firmly in the pockets of their respective receiver blocks 22 and are frictionally held therein as they pass to the lower flight of the conveyor. At a convenient point along the lower fiight a stripping station is provided at which ejector means, operating in synchronism with the conveyor travel, engages and removes the packages from the conveyor. This means, in the form here shown, comprises a bell crank 44 fulcrummed adjacent each side of the conveyor for oscillation in a vertical plane. The short arms of the levers are connected by a transverse bar 45 beneath the conveyor, and the free ends of the long arms have enlargements 46 that are adapted to engage and press down upon the portions of the tampon packages which project laterally from the conveyor, whereby the packages are forced from their receiver block pockets and stripped from the conveyor.

Operation of the apparatus is as follows: Whenever the apparatus is at rest during the synchronized step by step movement of the tampon transfer turret and. the conveyor, one of the receiver blocks 22 is located at the transfer point with its pocket 23 in vertical registry with that tampon holding pocket 26 of the turret which is aligned with the ejector finger 2?. Prior to operation the wrapper web W is trained along the top of the conveyor beneath the movable hold down plate 2%, across the top of the block 22 that is positioned at the transfer point in readiness to receive a tampon, and for an appreciable distance beneath the stationary hold down plate 29. When the apparatus is set in operation, and before the conveyor is moved, a tampon 2 is transferred from the turret 25 to the conveyor. The transfer cycle is illustrated in Figures 7-9. The ejector finger 21 moves down from its Figure 2 position of rest into the turret pocket 26 and pushes the tampon downwardly until it seats firmly in the pocket 23 of the receiver block on the conveyor, as in Figure 8, after which the finger is retracted to its initial position. When the finger returns to its initial position the turret is indexed to bring the next following tampon holding pocket into position :at the transfer point.

As the tampon moves into the pocket of the receiver block it carries with it the adjacent portion of the web W which forms a liner partially enveloping the tampon, with the free end of the web maintained flatly on the conveyor beneath the hold down plate 29. The tampon itself thus forms its own pocket in the web of wrapper material.

When the ejector finger 2'! moving in the return half of its cycle arrives at its Figure 2 position the conveyor chain moves forward one step to bring the next following receiver block into position at the transfer point. As the conveyor begins to move, the reciprocable hold down plate 28 is advanced completely across and over thetop of the block in which the tampon was deposited, so that the tampon is held against popping out of its pocket by the pull on the web W incident to forward movement of the conveyor. Before the restrained tampon passes fully beyond the end of the plate 23 it passes beneath the stationary hold down plate 29, by which it is restrained until arrival at the wrapper severing station. As soon as the tampon has passed beneath the plate 29 the movable plate 28 is returned to its initial position of Figure '7, and the transfer cycle is repeated in the period of conveyor rest following completion of its step of movement.

At the wrapper severing station the knife 33,

see Figures -12, reciprocates through one cycle during each rest interval of the conveyor between steps. As theflattened web of wrapper material issues from beneath the stationary hold down plate 29 it is severed cleanly and entirely by the knife which passes freely through the .spaces between adjacent receiver blocks 22, forming a tab 32 for the leading edge of each wrapper.

Each step of conveyor travel carries a block 22 fully past the knife, so that for each block its associated wrapper material is completely severed from the web W following two successive cutting strokes of the knife, thereby forming the individual wrappers W. The web of wrapper -material is under a tension in its flattened state when it arrives at the severing station, and as a result the side edges 33 and 35 of each wrapper blank spring upwardly when severed and assume the vertical positions of Figure 12. At the same time their associated tampons tend to rise slightly from the pockets of their receiver blocks. In

order to assure that the tampons shall be properly positioned for wrapping and sealing they are passed beneath the pusher bar 36 which descends at each operation of the knife to engage the subjacent tampon and press it firmly down into its pocket. The bar 36 is located closely adjacent the wrapping and side sealing station.

As each tampon carrying block 22 comes to rest beneath the upturned guide lip 38 of the hold down plate 31, the various elements are in the positions shown in Figure 2, with the leading edge 33 of the wrapper blank inclined rearwardly above the tampon. Before the con veyor begins its next step movement the tuck in mechanism operates as shown in Figures 13 and 14. The arm 60 swings forwardly to bring the straight edge blade 35 against the upstanding trailing edge 35 of the wrapper blank and tucks it in beneath the overhanging leading edge.

Whilethe blade 39 is in tuck in position, the conveyor begins its next step movement; so that as the tampon passes in under the lip 38 and plate 31 the upwardly inclined edge 33 is folded tightly down, over and upon the tucked in edge 35 to complete the first phase of the wrapping operation. When the thus wrapped tampon clears the opposite end ofthe hold down plate 31 the conveyor is at the end of a step movement, and during the ensuing rest interval the heated presser bar 4| moves down to apply heat and pressure to the overlapped side edge portions of the wrapper blank, whereupon the edge portions are adhesively united by the self bonding action of the material. As shown in Figure 14, the seal thus effected extends from end to end of the tampon in a straight line that is disposed somewhat inwardly of the tab 32, leaving the tab free to facilitate opening of the package.

After the wrapping and side sealing operation each tampon subsequently comes to rest at the end sealing station, see Figures 1, 15 and 16. At this station the pairs of heated blocks 32 at both sides of the conveyor are brought together over the loose ends of the wrapper blank whereby the ends are pressed flatly together and heat sealed to form the end tabs 43, thus completing the sealing of the package P.

As each package arrives at the stripping station on the lower flight of the conveyor and comes to rest beneath the ejector portions 43, the bell crank M is cycled to press the portions Mi downwardly upon the projecting ends of the packages at the sides of the conveyor, whereupon the packages are dislodged from the pockets of their respective blocks 22 and fall by gravity onto a delivery chute 41.

A preferred detail construction of the tuck in mechanism and tampon holder block is illus trated in Figure 19. The arm 40 carrying the straight edge blade 39 is associated with a second and similar arm 40a which pivots on the same axis as the arm 46. The arm 48a is behind the arm 43, with reference to the direction of forward travel of the conveyor. Its lower end extends below the lower end of arm 49 and carries a straight edge blade 39a similar to the blade 39 but of greater width. A spring coupling 43 between the two arms biases the wider blade 33a to a position in which it is normally projected slightlyahead ofthe blade 39; and the blade 38a is angled so that, when the coupled arms move forward together for a tuck in operation, it contacts the trailing edge portion of the wrapper blank and holds it firml against the tampon 24 in the subjacent block 22 before the blade 39 engages behind the trailing edge portion at a higher point to carry it beneath the leading edge 33. The spring coupling 48 enables the arm 40 to continue ahead of the arm 40a and carry the tuck in blade beneath the lip 38 of the hold down plate 3?. In this preferred form the plate 3'! is pivoted as at 49 and has a spring load 50 biasing the lip 38 downwardly against a tampon in the holder block; so that in the course of tucking in the wrapper edge 35 the blade 39 actually lifts the hold down plate at the deflector lip 38. While the blade 39 is being withdrawn, the lower blade 39a remains in its holding position until the arm 40 picks up the arm 40a and carries it back to its initial position. I

Also in this preferred form, each holder block 22 carries at its leading face a separate face plate 5| that is spring loaded as at 52 against the block to form a side of its pocket and to provide friction for holding a tampon in the pocket. The trailing face of the block carries a horizontal die plate 53 extending laterally from its upper edge to underlie the web of wrapper material. As shown in Figure 5, the die plate is provided with a slot 54 shaped in conformity with the contour of the cutting edge of the knife 33 and dimensioned to receive the knife therethrough with clearance. The die plate holds the wrapper web flatly while it is being pierced and out by the knife. web the rest of the blade passes down through After the point on, the. knife pierces-the the slot and slices the web to conform with the knife outline. This arrangement does away with the need for close fitting shearing edges between the knife and die.

My novel method of wrapping and sealing articles in individual packages comprises a series of successive steps of stages substantially a follovrs: The articles to be packaged are transferred from a holder at a supply station serially onto a web of wrapper material supported ona traveling conveyor provided with spaced apart pockets. The conveyor carries the web in a step by step movement past the supply station and past subsequent treatment stations to a discharge station. At the supply station the articles transferred are forced against the web and into the conveyor pockets, thereby partially enveloping the articles in the web. The thus partly wrapped articles are held against being pulled out of the pockets as they are advanced, and while so held they serve, in effect, to attach the web to the conveyor so that it is pulled along with the conveyor during its travel.

At a subsequent treatment station beyond the supply station the web is severed between successive conveyor pockets to provide individual wrapper blanks each with a tab on its leading edge. articles are then moved to another treatment station where the trailing edge of each blank is tucked in beneath the leading edge portion which is folded down over and upon the associated article. The overlapped portions of each blank are then united and sealed longitudinally of the article along a line spaced inwardly from the tab, which is thus left free in order to facilitate opening of the package. After this operation, the thus partly formed packages are moved to a subse quent treatment station where' their ends are sealed to complete the wrapping and sealing of the packages. The packages are then carried to the discharge station and are there stripped from the conveyor.

it is considered unnecessary to illustrate and describe herein all the various mechanical movements and machine elements by which the synchronized operation of the several parts of the apparatus is eiiected, as all such are conventional and well known to persons skilled in the art. Although the present invention has been described in conjunction with preferred. embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as those skilled in the art will readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of the invention as claimed.

Iclaim: 1. In an apparatus for packaging individual articles of substantially cylindrical form, a con- The blanks with their partially encased the web to carry it with the articles into said pockets, a movable hold down plate overlying the conveyor and web in advance of the supply point and reciprocable coincident with step movement of the conveyor to travel over and across each article-filled pocket as it leaves the supply point, and a stationary hold down plate overlying the conveyor and web from a point closely adjacent the. limit of advance of the reciprocable hold down plate to a point closely adjacent the severing means.

2. In an apparatus for packaging individual articles of substantially cylindrical form,-a conveyor having step by step movement and including serially arranged pockets, means for depositing in each pocket an article partly enclosed in an individual wrapper having side edge portions extending upwardly above the conveyor, a hold down plate overlying the conveyor and having an upstanding deflector lip engageable by the leading edge of each wrapper as it is carried, thereunder by the conveyor to fold said edge portion downwardly upon and over its associated article, a tuck in member movable through a cycle in synchronism with movement of the conveyor, 2. straight edge blade fixed on said member for engagement behind the upstanding trailing edge portion of each wrapper to tuck it in beneath the leading edge as said leading edge begins to move past the deflector lip and beneath said hold down plate, a second straight edge blade movable on said tuck in member relative to the fixed blade, and means biasing said second straight edge blade to a position for holding engagement against the wrapper inwardly of its trailing edge portion prior to engagement of the wrapper by the first named straight edge blade.

3. In an apparatus for packaging individual articles of substantially cylindrical form, a conveyor having step by step movement and including serially arranged pockets, means for depositing in each pocket an article partly enclosed in an individual wrapper having side edge portions extending upwardly above the conveyor, a hold down plate overlying the conveyor and having an upstanding deflector lip engageable by the leading edge of each wrapper as it is carried thereunder by the conveyor to fold said edge portion downwardly upon and over its associated article, a member movable through a cycle in synchronism with movement of the conveyor and having a fixed portion adapted to engage the trailing edge portion of each wrapper and tuck it in beneath the leading edge as said leading edge begins to move past the deflector lip beneath said hold down plate, and said member having a movable portion spring biased to a position for engagement against the wrapper prior to its engagement by said fixed portion and at a point spaced therefrom inwardly of its trailing edge.

JOHN A. CARRIER.

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